The traditional, flat-top acoustic guitar has many shortcomings despite of its immense popularity throughout the world. Some of the shortcomings are (1) low volume, (2) difficulty in achieving balanced sound, (3) the cost of a guitar with outstanding sound, (4) limited control available to the guitarist, and (5) the inverse relationship between the sound quality and volume.
While electronic amplification is possible, many guitarists appreciate and would like to own a good sounding, entirely acoustic guitar capable of great volume. In fact, there are very large guitars capable of producing loud volume; however, these are awkward to hold and play. There is a need for a guitar capable of producing quality sound at high volume, without the awkwardness accompanying very large guitars.
Conventional guitars are made to produce balanced sound for notes between the lowest fundamental tone input E2 (82.41 cycles per second, hereinafter “cps”) to the highest fundamental tone input B6 (1,975.53 cps). In general, guitars with the richest and most pleasing low pitch tones often do not have the most pleasing high pitch tones, and vice versa. Some attempts to solve this problem include the use of internal resonant sound chambers, as well as internal and external metal resonating cones in so called “resonator guitars”. This problem, however, has not been satisfactorily resolved as evidenced by the lack of no dominant resonant guitar type in the market. There is a need for a guitar capable of producing quality sound throughout its entire frequency range.
An inexpensive guitar with a plywood veneer top and poor sound quality can be obtained for about fifty dollars ($50.00). However, guitars with outstanding sound quality can cost many hundreds and thousands of dollars; such guitars often require fine craftsmanship and materials which are often rare and expensive. There is a need for an inexpensive acoustic guitar capable of producing quality sound.
A guitarist has limited control over an acoustic guitar's volume or its characteristic sound or timbre (hereinafter “timbre”). The guitarist may strike the strings nearer the bridge for brighter sound, use a thick pick and strike the strings harder for greater volume, and/or use strings of different gauges and materials for increased resonance and different timbre. Many guitarists often have several guitars for different qualities they seek at different times. There is a need for a guitar capable of allowing the guitarist to easily achieve different levels of volume and different sound characteristics while using the same guitar.